Tactics Universe Blog

Not Dead

2012-01-19T12:41:00.001-05:00

No. Just haven't had any motivation to hack. I just can't do it. So I'll be back later.

Secret Progress

2011-12-28T10:10:00.002-05:00

So I'm back to that point where I can't really show much progress for spoiler reasons but I'd just like to let you guys know that by... like, the end of today, I should be done up to (but not including) chapter 26. Chapter 25 was going to have some... somewhat larger changes made to it, but I decided against it because 1) I felt it was going to interrupt the plot a little, 2) It felt a little misplaced, 3) I felt it was a little excessive because *SPOILER* there's a gaiden chapter right after chapter 25 and well, the new feature would practically be like adding another gaiden chapter... and 4) adding the gaiden there would not make the game as fun as saving it for later.

So yeah I know I'm being very vague but this is probably news for the better. The feature will likely be easier to implement and will go along better with the post-game "dungeon", Fallen Universe, which I may or may not have mentioned here. If I haven't mentioned it here let me know so I can briefly touch upon it (but again I can't spoil too much... XP).

Anyhow once I get myself organized I'm going to kick it into new-hacking mode and hit up chapter 26, and to be honest scripting new chapters won't be too much different than what I've been doing so for in the revamp (which I suppose is pretty much finished once I tie up some final loose ends), so yeah... Eventually I'm going to be taking a long break to work on the game's final battle animations (at least Kelik's, anyway, this awesome guy named Ragnarok has been helping me with other battle animations, such as the Imperial Generals... but once again I can't say more than that D:) so... I just wanted to kind of let people know that's going to happen.

tl;dr I finished the revamp up to chapter 26 and am now going to finish chapter 26 and work on the new chapters, taking breaks here and there, working on the final sprites, features, etc., and won't be making too many interesting updates in an attempt to keep the latter half (I say half because game-time wise... chapter 20-end game is probably about 1/2 the game >_>) a secret. Thus it's "secret progress".

THE 100th Post!

2011-12-24T12:38:00.002-05:00

Now, here is a small showing of Tactics Universe to celebrate my 100th blog post!

I've revised the chapter 20 ending scene to expand on what happened to Bern's army and why they became so angry and impulsive. This is just one example where I've tried to expand on the plot of the game. ~~Man, it may not look like much but making that scene took a ton of work.~~

Now, part 2 of the blog post! I am announcing the various modes that TU will have available. Modes will work like the last patch--you apply any variation of alterations/modes by applying them ON TOP OF the normal patch. Also, some of these modes may have already been shown, and some may not make it into the final cut depending on time and/or other restraints/factors.

DS Mode - Play with DS Battle Backgrounds and the DS Battle template to give the game a Fire Emblem 11 feeling!

Radiance Mode - Units will have +2 default move and mounted units will have the skill Canto. These changes are to make the game more like Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn.

Fixed Growths Mode - Units will receive level-ups according to their growths, removing a lot of the luck from the game.

Unknown Mode - This mode is a much harder version of the game. All enemy units will be stronger and better equipped. The game will be based off of the hard mode version of the game, meaning all reinforcements will be hard-mode based. Bosses will be especially upped in difficulty--for example, bosses may receive custom weapons to increase their abilities. This mode is intended to be the hardest level of Fire Emblem ever played--insanely difficult, luck-based, trying, tedious, unfair, and annoying. I will probably not playtest this mode to save myself from it. ._.

No Decay Mode - Weapons and items will no longer decay, i.e. they have infinite uses. This is very useful in that many useful but low-use items (such as the Hammerne staff, the "One" Series, Vulneraries, etc.) will now have infinite uses, and all items will be free, but it also means that enemies will have infinite use elixirs, vulneraries, etc... but overall, it will help the player a TON more than it will hurt them.

Mystery Mode - The only way to find out what this mode does is to play it! There will be tons of small changes that will make the game harder and easier, but in many ways it is the "excuse for random but interesting edits". Expect edited items, effects, and other things.

---------------------------

I hope there's something to look forward to! I'm working hard over this winter break and I hope to make some good progress, hopefully back up to chapter 26 which was the last chapter I was working on before my computer got owned and I started revising the game from the beginning while working my way back up to the new chapters. I'm trying to make the game as detailed as possible, but remember, the game comes out on July 7th, 2011, which means I'm aiming to be done with the game by Spring Break (around April IIRC) so that I have enough time to betatest the game and make any final changes. Last notice is that after chapter 26 (which is halfway done IIRC) is chapter 27 and the final chapter. After that I still have to do supports though, final revisions/betatesting, adding in the final extra features and epilogue (which I plan to be very long), possibly adding in the bonus post-game dungeon Fallen Universe, and some other things, so it's not over for a while!

Boom Post

2011-12-18T01:27:00.004-05:00

This post is going to contain several updates... however, the updates will be edited into the post over time. You see, this is the 99th post on this blog. That means the next post is quite special. Which means, I have to do something special for it. And for me to have the time to do that, I'm going to take a little "break" and put smaller updates here until I have something nice to show. Sound good? :D

1) Battle frame redux.

Ya happy? (The bright yellow has been changed to gold so that people with bad eyes aren't irritated by its brightness and contrast).

2) I decided what I am going to do for my 100th post. It's... interesting, but doesn't spoil much since it won't really be covering too much late-game stuff, to say the least... XP - Added at 2:40 PM on 12/18/11

3) Changed my plans for my 100th post. I lost motivation to do so much work. Instead I'll be announcing some new "features" for the final patch and showing off some very recent progress that adds to the game, and making some other announcements. I'll try and get as much as I can ready but to be honest I just don't have the time to do everything I want--I meant to make a few more updates in this very post but it didn't happen >_>. - Added at 1:49 AM on 12/14/11

Taking Donations

2011-12-16T23:33:00.003-05:00

Alright, I'm NOT going to be brief here. I'd like to but I feel like the reason as to why I'm putting up a donation banner should be explained so (normal) people don't get the wrong impression. I realize the less-than-intelligent people might still not understand my reasoning but that can't be helped much. ANYWAY....

Doing this project is fun but it's taken a lot of time and effort. I'm giving the option to donate because it'd help support things like running my sites (host costs, etc.), college funds, amongst other things. It's also just a nice gesture since I'm doing this project for free and people can enjoy games. However, I am not going to go begging for donations or anything.

Also, note that if you choose to be a kind soul and donate anything, even as little as a dollar, that this donation goes to the head of the Tactics Universe project, me, and is grouped under a donation for my general services to the Fire Emblem community. I am under no circumstances being payed for the hacking I do given that the project itself is a cumulative work of many people and not just my own work anyway. I'm simply presenting the opportunity and am not much more qualified to receive a donation to help with my life more than the average person. But regardless, it is here, and an option. You can find the donate button below but I will probably add it to the side bar too.
Lastly, I realize the new battle frame had a lot of complaints, but I don't have the time or motivation to upload the latest version right now. Thank you for your understanding (regarding everything).

New Battle Frame!

2011-12-11T01:08:00.003-05:00

I sure as heck haven't done any real TU work lately but with the help of a guy named Jubby and a battle template of Nayr's we now have a new battle frame for animated battles!

I may have been too lazy to get screenshots of anyone else but Kelik, but I still think it looks awesome. Look at the awesome looking text! Also, note that the second screen is mid-animation which is why the template is slightly lower than the one on the left--it's part of a "bouncing" effect...

Since I just feel SOOOOOO great about the work Jubby did I made a video too. Teehee. I don't even care if you like it or think the area where the weapon name is bad or anything else, as long as I like it I'm happy and I like it so I'm happy right now. =D Here's a video too though (the actual reason why I made a video was because a lot of people don't check the blog...).

Hope you like it! And I hope I have more to share soon! XD

UPDATE: Bonus Picture!

NPC and "Other" colors thanks to Jubby. Man that looks badass. OMG, I just imagined the final boss battle using this battle template. My mind had a shockwave. Another one of those and it might explode. Sorry it is 1:30 AM and I get hyper over anything. *pokes carpet*

Sorry for Lack of Updates

2011-12-03T19:39:00.002-05:00

I've been really busy with school work and sicknesses lately... actually, I'm still not feeling quite like myself, so I can't even say I'll get back to working soon. I just thought I'd apologize/let you guys know the project and I are alive and whatnot, since it's been a few weeks. As soon as I stop being so physically fatigued I'll do my best to get back into the swing of things.

Moar Progress... to Chapter 20!

2011-11-12T22:50:00.002-05:00

Good news guys, moar progress! I just have to finish playtesting chapter 19 (which won't take long--just not feeling up to it at the moment) and I should be done up to then, meaning chapter 20 is next. Unfortunately I once again can't show much actual progress as to not spoil too much but besides the usual updates on units, inventories, and bug/glitch fixing, chapters 20 and 21 will have some all new cut-scenes expanding on the story. Soon we'll be reaching the newer chapters that haven't been publicly released (but have actually been done completely). Yes, this means that I'll be revising chapters that haven't even been released yet, haha.

Anyhow just expect me to be working hard to try and make this a decent hack since I can't afford to spoil a ton, and I'll keep the updates going just so you guys know how far the game is to completion, remembering that it's due for a release on July 7th, 2012. :O

Progress Update: Chapter 18 Next

2011-11-09T21:01:00.003-05:00

After fixing several problems in chapter 17 such as Nothung being "pilfered" and an endscene camera issue, some text updates, and even adding in a new gameplay touch (besides the fact that Kelik/Shon are in a separate corridor saving Siegfried, making the chapter even more interesting... or so I hope), I moved on to chapter 17x and have now arrived at chapter 18's footsteps.

See if you can guess what gameplay touch I've added here!

And I've also fixed Liuke's leveling problem--he should now level-up fine. Chapter 18 will have some more things to spice it up to make it even more interesting, going beyond the big battle between NPCs, allies, and various Etrurian groups (Fort Darner's troops, Etrurian troops, and Howard's personal legion are all in that chapter as enemies) whilst taking down two castles in one chapter by adding in some more surprise features. Unfortunately I can't spoil too much or else it wouldn't be a surprise, but you might just see a familiar face...

EDIT: No it's not "Knights can walk through walls" as suggested by L95, that's an outdated map, there isn't supposed to be a wall there. So ignore that, I've already fixed the map but I don't feel like re-screenshotting just to fix it...

The Ultimate Tutorial is FINISHED!

2011-11-07T13:25:00.002-05:00

w00t! It's finally finished! After over 270 pages in 75 chapters, it's finally finished. T_T *sobs of happiness*

Anyone who is learning to hack, this tutorial was made for you. For those who help hackers, this tutorial is for you too--just point them to it, I made it for the novice hacker who knows nothing to learn everything! ^_^

http://www.feshrine.net/ultimatetutorial/ - Online Version
http://forums.feshrine.net/index.php?showtopic=3408 - Topic

If you're wondering why this is relevant to Tactics Universe, TU is actually the embodiment of all the knowledge in the Ultimate Tutorial. It includes almost everything I know, and Tactics Universe is an example of what can be done when one puts all that knowledge to use. Why do you think they have the same letters in their abbreviation but in the opposite order? TU and UT? :P

Furthermore as I have now completed this project I can now continue onto other projects, like this one. No matter how you see it, it's good news! ^_^

Revamp Approaching Chapter 17

2011-11-01T22:23:00.002-04:00

I've started up work on Tactics Universe--for real this time--and I've now come up to chapter 17 on the "revamp". You can see the revised ending scene (well, not TOO much is changed, but whatever) posted on youtube below.

Aside from that, I'd like to point out some of the changes being made.

- Noah is now a playable character in part 2
- All main characters can now seize (Siegfried, Anakin, and Kelik--I know Shon is also a "main character" but he's not mainly/manly enough... :P)
- "Respite from Battle" has been taken out. To remedy this, the chapter 16 boss will drop a Celestial Ring. Respite From Battle was a chapter originally intended to act as a filler after one of the patches. It was kept afterwards for entertainment purposes and also to connect the gap between the parts (people would restart the chapter and talk to the Knight who would now let them advance after the new patch was applied).
- Chapter 15x has also been cancelled. It was originally meant to be a mini-game chapter, but was cancelled due to time restraints.
- I am now elaborating on various parts of the story more in-depth. This will make the dialogs longer but will also make more sense of things like the story behind Kelik and his brother, the purpose of the various mementos throughout the story (e.g. Kelik's necklace, Yue's amulet, etc.), the timeline of events in the war, amongst other things. I think this will help improve the plot much more, despite the fact that I am not the best story teller.

There are also many other changes, some of which I simply can't remember to state, some of which haven't been implemented, and some of which I simply can't spoil because they are too great, so you'll have to wait on the completed game to see everything for yourself!

And as usual if you have anything to suggest or report or say, just leave a comment, believe it or not the comments sometimes motivate me because when it comes to hacking I get moody, it's such a pain in the butt. XD

Boom Boom Bang

2011-10-30T11:24:00.002-04:00

Been working on TU since yesterday. But to be honest, before that I had been totally neglecting TU. Good news is, I got weapon icons expanded and now I can make more weapons and make them more original (no more reusing icons and I won't have to sacrifice old weapons for new ones). Furthermore, archers are now useful (Super Rifle has 3-7 range tentatively, meaning you can literally snipe enemies as if though you had a rifle--archers only though, nomads can't use it).

If you have any new ideas, suggestions, or bugs/glitches/miscellaneous problems to report, PLEASE DO IT NOW. I am going through the game and fixing everything I see and updating anything that could use an update/a little spicing up so now is the perfect chance. Obviously I'm not going to be adding in new characters or making references to other games or doing any other stupid or selfish ideas, but if a chapter is significantly too hard or easy, or it could use some innovation, or it has some bug that needs fixing, etc., I'd REALLY appreciate it if you reported it. Granted there might be a reason as to why something is a certain way but it's better if you just report it and if I can't change it for whatever reason I'll explain why.

Thanks and uh... see ya'll around (depending on if people are interested I might make more posts, if not I'll go back to working silently).

NEW FIRE EMBLEM 3DS!!!

2011-09-13T13:56:00.003-04:00

HELL YEAH! IS is making a new Fire Emblem for the 3DS. It's finally come!

I'd put all the details here but there are far too many and this is technically a Tactics Universe blog, so instead I'll link you to the greatest Fire Emblem resource ever.

http://www.serenesforest.net/

If you want to keep up with news, this site has everything. Seriously. My sites are always 500 steps behind this one and no general gaming site will have every single little thing you could want to know about this game like SF does. :D

Post what you think and what else you want to see etc... and let's all be positive and hope this game ends up awesome and comes out in North America and Europe!!!

Blazer Is Disappoint

2011-08-21T21:11:00.002-04:00

Well, this sucks.

Summer is practically over since school is starting this coming Friday for me. I have to read 3 books in the next 3 days (one each day, at least) and then do my report for all of them on Thursday.

I also have a lot of other responsibilities though, so yeah...

Anyway, I've gotten some progress but things haven't been going as well as I expected, nevermind as well as I planned, as I'm stuck at about chapter 14 with my revamp progress. Personal problems and social drama really aren't helping me focus on Tactics Universe either, which is why I haven't posted much and haven't actually done much since I came back from my trip, despite how positive I was feeling before. >_>

For now here are some screenshots since I'm going to have to take a break and focus on school for a few weeks--I didn't mean to spoil this chapter but I don't have anything else to show and I couldn't live with myself for making another blog post that's just a rant about my life instead of what it should be about, the hack. T_T

Wish me luck that things go well and I can focus on hacking again, since I haven't done any real work on this project since like... February, which is why "Blazer Is Disappoint". -_-

FINALLY BACK!

2011-08-11T14:52:00.001-04:00

So maybe I'll be a little bit more productive now that I'm comfortable at my home after almost a month.

Maaaaan did I miss my home city. T_T

Btw, I'm adding a few new chapters, which is why I haven't worked on chapter 26 in forever. I also started a legitimate playthrough of TU both as a personal betatest and to get a legitimate save up (for videos etc., having hacked Siegfried's and Kelik's that 1-shot bosses isn't always as epic as it could be XP).

Halberdier 2.0

2011-08-02T12:54:00.002-04:00

Thanks to The Blind Archer we have an updated Halberdier. Thanks to him we also have another new class but I can't introduce said class yet, unfortunately. So just enjoy the new Halberdier for now. =D

Oh Yeah Graphics

2011-07-30T10:14:00.000-04:00

Doing some graphic-related stuff. Including custom battle animations (which are a secret until the patch) and maps.

Like that for example. =D

Done with Side-Hack

2011-07-27T03:58:00.000-04:00

I finished the side-hack (it's just going under betatesting/final revisions) so my next major hacking appointment I will continue updating where I left off, as well as make a few other revisions I have planned (I have done a lot of planning for Tactics Universe on my iPhone ^_^).

Small Hacking Break

2011-07-25T08:14:00.002-04:00

I won't be doing much hacking for Tactics Universe for a bit as I focus on my ragefest hack. This ragefest entry shouldn't take very long though, I should be done before I get back from my trip. As I mentioned I have my laptop and we're about to take it easy so I'll have plenty of free time for this small hack.

And I'm a very, very fast hacker IMO, even if I'm not a quality hacker, so I will actually be done quick. I'm also cutting out the credits which will take a couple hours... so yeah. That's about all I have to say on that matter.

In the mean time I have sprite work being done (thanks to people like Exxucus, Ragnarok, and Camtech, I am having revamped maps, custom battle sprites [including one for King Louis, which I originally wasn't going to do] and more weapons/custom weapon icons). If anyone wants to help me with supports or weapon icons though let me know, I only have 2 people working on supports ATM, myself included... and I lost like 20 supports due to the fact that my computer broke down earlier, if you'll remember my complaining about said tragedy.

Thanks for being as patient as ever guys. ^_^

Tactics Universe FEE3 Trailer

2011-07-18T07:17:00.001-04:00

Just a quick update,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o-FtjJ348Q

That's the Tactics Universe trailer that was at the FEE3, also be sure to check out the actual FEE3 since it has a lot of cool hacks.

Oh and I have my laptop with working internet, at least for now. XP Probably won't have it in a few days for a few days and stuff.

See ya around.

Generic Status Update... 3?

2011-07-15T22:23:00.001-04:00

I don't know what number status update this is due to the fact that my laptop isn't connecting to the hotel's Internet and as a result my ability to like... Do anything, is severely limited... I'm on my iPhone 3G right now. Which is running a firmware that makes it lag a lot, so yeah...

In terms of hacking, I haven't done anything. However I was thinking of transferring my current version of TU to my DS so I could get a legitimate save that doesnt consist of a hacked Siegfried... XP

However as soon as I kick myself into gear (who knows when) I'll give you guys the good news. In the mean time look out for my FE E3 entry showing off some changes/updates to Siegfried mode (but I couldn't do any updates past that yet, sorry).

Well, this is my limit for typing on my phone. I'll see you guys around.

Good News & Game Suggestion Search

2011-07-10T18:15:00.003-04:00

Good News: Taking my computer with me on my trip, so I'll try and be as productive as I can when I have downtime (which I don't know how much I'll have but I don't plan on sleeping much).

Also: looking for suggestions for the rest of the playable patch, namely chapters 11 through 21. See the last post for a few more specifics, but yeah, any ideas, let me know.

Lastly: If anyone has any suggestions for custom weapons/tomes please let me know. Granted I'm not going to be doing any ASM hacks so my abilities are limited. Also it'd be very nice if you would provide as many details as you can with your suggestion. Lastly, your suggestion has a 5x better chance of being accepted if it includes a custom weapon icon so that I don't have to make one myself. ^_^

Credit will be given for any suggestions (although if I by some chance forget, please do let me know). Thanks and have a great day.

Prologue-Chapter 10 Suggestions

2011-07-09T08:04:00.003-04:00

I should be done with the revisions upto chapter 10 by today (hopefully). Before I finish I was wondering if anyone had any small issues with any of the chapters or any ideas for something that could be improved. Obviously I won't be adding random characters and I won't be changing the difficulty of chapters but if there are any bugs, glitches, plot issues, gameplay suggestions, etc. that you want to bring up, please go ahead.

I'll be making a separate post for chapters 11-21 later.

Thanks.

Weeeeeeeeeee

2011-07-06T21:40:00.003-04:00

As well as a new sidequest series that, if you can figure out, will let you obtain Shon's most powerful sword. TOTALLY worth it, and adds to the plot might I add.

I'm making this post with as little text as I can handle without feeling totally awkward. XP

Generic Status Update

2011-06-28T09:49:00.003-04:00

Woot generic status update.

So I found a pretty recent patch of TU so I didnt lose too much progress in-game... But I still lost everything else, as I've explained before.

So what I am going to do is go play through the game while finding AND fixing-improving things that can be improved AS I FIND THEM. I'll also be making savestates of each chapter for hacking and debugging reasons, as well as slowly rebuild all those awesome supports I left.

In other news I do still have the most important maps I need for new chapters (whenever I get to them, the only maps that aren't done are the ones of the final chapter). I also have an epic Galagar battle animation thanks to Ragnarok. Furthermore I plan on enlisting some help with some other key boss sprites as well as doing Kelik's on my own etc... In short I have a lot to accomplish and I'm going to do my best to, at the very least, accomplish SOMETHING.

Of course for those of you who don't know, I'm also busy with the Fire Emblem 12 Translation Project, and I am going out of the country (U.S.) for a month so I won't be making much progress then. But what's most important is that I plan to work hard and have something to show you guys soon. ^_^

Very Bad News =(

2011-05-31T13:04:00.000-04:00

I have very bad news. The summary is my laptop broke and I don't have a back-up and life is just on a downhill slope right now. Here's a post (I'ma paste it below) I made on my forum with some more details. I'm sorry that Tactics Universe is taking so long... seriously, imagine how I feel, with so much of my shit almost surely down the drain (I doubt they can recover it...).

---------------------

So I haven't been here the last few days. That's because I had to go to a graduation and that took up most of Saturday, Sunday, and most of Monday.

As for the other parts of Saturday and Monday (yesterday)? Well, on Saturday morning my Mom broke my computer in her anger/fury. I didn't find out until last night, though (I avoided the computer after she took it, obviously, as to not to upset her). Well, now I lost my computer as well as everything on it. No, it's not backed up, I was going to do it after this trip, but little did I foresee that it'd break before the trip ended... >_>

So, now you know why I won't really be active here or anywhere else.

Then, to top off my terrible happenings, I don't have any other computer and my parents don't exactly seem excited to help me take care of this computer issue.

Furthermore, I got written up today because I asked to use the bathroom, got denied 3 times, and then went anyway because it was an emergency. So I went to the bathroom without permission for an emergency and got written up. >_____<

And there's been plenty of other bad stuff, but it's not worth your time hearing about it. Right now I just want to feel better, I'm going to hangout with my friends and complain about all the bullshit I have to face some more, so I'll see ya guys later.

If you need something though, don't hesitate to e-mail me at smashfire17@gmail.com. I can't do much without a computer but I can do basic things since I have an iPhone. :\

Oh, and FYI, I'm at School right now. :|

~ Blazer

--------

Unfortunately that's all for now... =(

Pretty Much Done... with School

2011-05-10T16:15:00.002-04:00

Since I'm a genius (...not*) I'm taking 5 AP classes (2 of which are semester classes) and have 2 study halls and English. Meaaaaning, now that I'm almost done with my AP tests (I don't give a shit about Economics, I could take it now and get a 3) I'm pretty much done with school, because generally, for those of you who don't know, when AP tests are done, AP classes are pretty much done (hence the title). English is a piece of cake, so I'm not worried. And no finals--my AP tests ARE my finals.

Why do you care? Well this is all just to say I'll now have ever increasing free time, some of which will go to hacking. I have a LOT of work ahead of me and it's going to be hard staying motivated without spoiling the game in the process, but oh well.

I'm just barely over 20% done with the game's supports, which isn't good news. I HAVE been getting help on sprites, a never-ending project within itself, but only portraits. Which is bad news, because I have a lot of battle sprites ahead of me.

The good news is, I'm halfway done with chapter 26 already. But the bad news about that is that the latter half is much harder.

I'm out of news, so peace out.

Teaser Screens for 21,000+ Hits!

2011-04-16T23:07:00.002-04:00

Well, actually, the 21,000 hits thing was just kinda convenient (although it'd have been more awesome at 20k...), I just managed to finish my script (or so I thought, but I think I forgot to implement something...make that two things, because I'm silly, so I'm not really done... *sigh*), and make the basis for my events. I setup the time-of-day thing, which worked out okay, and then did the opening scene. Annnnd I happened to have 21,000 hits on the blog, so that sounded like a good excuse for an update. Although I needed a real visual update ANYWAY.

Proof of work? Here you go.

(gotta lol at Celeste's closed eye frame... hahaha)

While I'm at it, I should probably point out that:

1) I have never gotten past the prologue in FE4
2) Will not explain anything about the screenshots
3) Next week is HW week, but since I'm a fast hacker I might get chapter 26 done anyway =D
4) The weekend though, I'm going on a trip, only to come back to tons of work, then tons of study, then AP tests for 2 weeks, so yeah, then I'll ACTUALLY be busy for 3 weeks. No joke. I'm banning myself from the computer and locking myself ~~in the fridge~~in my house and out of any room that has something fun in it. =P
5) I'm going to sleep.

Bai~!

More on Chapter 26

2011-04-15T23:20:00.002-04:00

*SPOILERS* (duh, this blog always has spoilers)

- You fight Holton Cabal, the Knight General, a man who loves killing. Unlike the other two generals (Galagar lost his whole family in an assassination; Lanmark's brother sacrificed himself to a disease that was brought in by a man from the Western Isles, which prevented the disease from spreading) and the King (King Louis, who was born and raised as a noble with a high social status who could never deal with others, didn't understand why, until one day, his dear sister died protecting a man she loved, that man being a peasant from Sacae, resulting in Louis' feelings and in turn the war), he did not lose any of his family... rather, he feels that people are too stupid to live in a peaceful society, and the only way to minimize the effects of this are to kill off as many people as possible, and live in a small society. This reduces the effects of the cycle of hatred... or so he believes.

- You do NOT get Kelik's sword. I decided that it would be too broken and that I should wait until chapter 27, because then that gives him one chapter to own, but doesn't make him so broken that he can solo chapter 26 before it's even nighttie...

- There are now TWO secret shops, on opposite ends of the map. But that's all I can say about that.

The chapter is still fun though, no worries. At least, I'm hoping it'll be. I'm actually still working on script (only the ending scene to go, but I'm tired, so I probably won't do it), and then I can do the hacking.

...Well, hypothetically. I've given up on video games and cut down on idle/rest time a bit to do this, but eventually it'll get to me and I'll lose my time to hack.

Which is probably for the better, because with 7 chapters I'm gonna be quizzed on next week (IN ONE CLASS), and tons of AP tests to cram for... *gulp* I will need all the time I can get... (let's hope I can do a little more hacking until then, eh?)

~ Blazer

Chapter 26 Gameplay Developments

2011-04-13T20:46:00.002-04:00

So I haven't done any real hacking yet but I DID get started on chapter 26 scripting... I've had various plot ideas but haven't had a time to truly develop them until today--that free time came with me sacrificing some things, like study time, sleep, PS2, Starcraft, food, and other stuff, but I'm glad because I really needed to do some sort of thing with this project before I just totally stopped. D=

Anyway, I won't just give a totally empty post. As the title of this post suggests, Chapter 26 is going to have some interesting gameplay. In fact, although it develops quite a bit of plot and wraps up the final stages of the war nicely, while finally introducing the senators (whose only importance is to convey that "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" and how they sit back, essentially idle, as their country falls), one of the big reasons I added it was to throw out some real fun gameplay.

While the whole game does feature new weapons, classes, tough bosses, detailed maps, interesting reinforcements and paths and a variety of goal missions, this one is even more different. Here's the list:

- it is a seize chapter WITH A TIME LIMIT (72 turns)
- the time of day is constantly changing (day, evening, night)
- constant turn events showing both enemies and their actions as well as the plans of allies
- both enemy and ally reinforcements constantly
- many special events, such as the recruitment of a special character, allied reinforcements that only come under certain conditions, and 'talk' events
- multiple castles to seize
- villages and houses that won't be your typical ones
- extra goals that will affect your game's ending (the final battle, supports, and gaiden access will also affect your EndGame)

And more! It will be an epic battle that will take a REALLY long time to make but will be totally worth it. Not to mention the map is HUGE and EPIC (I'm not bragging, I'm indirectly thanking my Map Spriter, Exxucus, who is awesome!).

Kelik will also get his Ultimate Sword, Arectaris! (Shon got his weapon, Siegfried will get his during the final chapter, and Anakin will get his tome, whose name I can't remember, during chapter 27)

I don't have anything yet, but do know that I'm working on it. The script should be done by Saturday (it's not only long as in text-heavy but includes a lot of details on chapter gameplay, event specifics, etc., and I went straight to the hacking-formatted script instead of writing a traditional theatrical script and then formatting it after, so it's more time-consuming in the short-run).

See ya guys until then~!

Sorry Guys

2011-04-06T16:39:00.003-04:00

I know, it's terrible. I haven't updated in over a month, which I think is the longest amount of time I haven't even made a post. T_T

I've just been really busy with all sorts of different things. I've also been sick here and there and well, let's just say I've been dealing with a little bit of everything lately, except hacking and youtube and stuff.

Unfortunately, I can't even say it's going to get better. I have exams as soon as May hits, and I'll be studying for them in the mean time, while I'm finishing up this school year's semester and trying to do well for once (I haven't been doing well >_>).

I'll try and get something done, but as of now, nothing. I'm going to try and kick myself into overdrive and hope that brings me some free time, although no guarantees, because if I turbo through my work I might just spend my "free time" sleeping... >_>

Well, at least I have the Chapter 26 map, which is huge, and is going to have some major gameplay twists on it, so you can expect it to be a fun, 1-hour long chapter (although it'll probably take me 8 hours to make... lmao).

Gaiden Chapter Requirements Updated

2011-02-23T16:05:00.002-05:00

I updated the gaiden chapter requirements for the game (not that you can get to all the gaidens because some of them aren't in the latest patch), the official site is at http://www.feshrine.net/tactics/, and the actual page is at http://www.feshrine.net/tactics/gaidens.html.

Oh and I'm looking for poll ideas because I can't think of any good ones.

That's all for now.

Chapter 5 Revisions

2011-02-19T18:44:00.002-05:00

What, more progress?

Yeah, I got a 4-day weekend, so I'm doing a little of everything, including some hacking! I've "revamped" chapter 5--that is, I've made several edits, but the basis of the chapter is still the same, so some people might be like "that's not a revamp, it's just a bunch of revisions", so yeah, whatever.

Here's the list of edits, and when the video is done uploading, I'll update the end of this post with that. Comment/enjoy!

Chapter 5 Edit List:

- Chief Haas is shown in the beginning, and leaves afterwards
- Various text revisions throughout the entire chapter
- Better event transition and flow
- Unit placement from scratch; more variety (myrmidons), less clumpy
- Now one set of chest keys (5 uses) is given instead of lots of different chest keys that take up inventory space
- Difficulty/annoying reinforcements have been lightened
- Map palette changed
- New boss music*
- New map theme*
- On turn 5, ally Kutolah reinforcements will appear, and defend for you enemy Djute reinforcements for a while, but eventually, those reinforcments will overwhelm them
- above urges one to finish chapter quickly (which shouldn't be a problem), especially since said reinforcements will NOT give experience
- Ending scene updated to show Haas and Storm
- if one reaches the gaiden, it will go straight to it, if not, it won't (but rest assured if you don't want to play the gaiden, you'll be given the chance to skip it at the beginning of 5x)

*applies to other chapters too, though =P

Chapter 25 Screenshots

2011-02-19T00:48:00.002-05:00

So I think I said this already but chapter 25 has been done and I just didn't upload screenshots because I wanted to save them for later (now) because had I shown them back then, I'd have nothing to show now. =P

Mhmmm, a little taste of the later part of the game... Oh, and there's a chapter 25 preview somewhere on youtube, too. Tell me what you think! =O

Minor Fixes and Updates

2011-02-14T06:22:00.002-05:00

I've been sick so I had some unexpected "free time" (too sick to go to school or do homework...).

So I thought of some stuff I could do and I decided I'd force myself to make some minor updates to Tactics Universe (I didn't do it earlier because I didn't think of said updates earlier =P).

Here's the list of changes (some don't have screens since they can't really be shown by screenshots...):

- Updated Alice's portrait (portrait by Eclipse40/Oujay, frame fixing painfully done by me)
- Updated Eduardo portrait (Nayr)
- Updated location error (previously said "Alexia Castle")
- Updated Tamiko portrait (Nayr)
- Updated Tamiko map sprite
- Slightly relocated enemies in chapter 2
- Updated Tekun portrait (DH_Ninja)
- Fixed Gordon frames
- Fixed Siegfried blinking frames
- Tuned-up early game map theme (Field from Tales of Symphonia, plays on prologue through chapter 2)
- Updated chapter 3 goal text
- Updated Bardolph's battle palette (the ugly portrait stays though)
- Made Ch4 fog of war less constrating (see old/new screenshot pair above)

I'll be updating this list as I feel like it and without warning or notice. =D

Quick Status Update

2011-02-10T16:24:00.003-05:00

Chapter 25 AND 25x are done (scripts, battle palettes, units, everything). I'm aware I haven't released any screenshots: that's because I wanted to give some time to let chapter 24 "sink in". And more importantly, school is gonna be picking up again, and more prominently, a bunch of other real stuff is kicking in, and I'm not going to be doing much hacking.

To top it off, my writing juices are a bit low ATM (and I can't write scripts or supports on low juice), the chapter 26 map is a HUGE map and is still in progress, I'm waiting on battle sprites, etc., so I won't have many major updates for a while, I don't think, but I will be posting screenshots and other random videos in the mean time (not whole-chapter videos though: no more whole-chapter videos until the hack is done, in-fact, in order to prevent spoiling the elaborate plot).

Oh, and Cia has totally dominated the poll on the right, even though I find Itsuke to be pretty dang awesome (I guess there's only a few of us who don't use Cia, huh...).

Chapter 24 Screenshots

2011-02-06T13:01:00.005-05:00

Some screenshots, but I avoided spoiling too much... but there's a familiar face around, and he's up to no good!

Renault Ain't So Tough

2011-02-05T19:01:00.002-05:00

On normal mode, anyway.

On hard mode, he weilds Nirvana, an S ranked sword with 2 range that does physical damage to all units, instead of a Prism Sword (which does magical damage and thus makes Renault an easy target for magic users and even Archers like Zach, Anakin, Cia, Itsuke, etc.). He will also approach you if a unit is within his range.

In Unknown mode, he has maxed stats and Nirvana, but with 3 range (so there's no escape). He'll also chase after you whether you are near him or not starting on turn 5, and will have +20% avoid added to his stats.

In both Hard/Unknown he won't have a Silver Sword and will drop Nirvana. I wanted him to have a Lifesphere too (FE12 reference, +20HP every turn) but such a thing doesn't exist in FE7 and I can't hack it in so yeah.

Chapter 22 & 23 Videos

2011-02-02T16:34:00.003-05:00

A loooong time ago I showed screenshots (like August) but I haven't shown videos... so here they are, this is the future of Tactics Universe!

Chapter 22:

Part 1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e8ut4nTBCw
Part 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP6LW7yM_Zc
Part 3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrOugIdC9xM

Chapter 23:

Part 1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9uVs-FSTwE
Part 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t2Tl6VcEs0
Part 3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrsvbpEYx94
Part 4- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91qVh9VrxCY

(Rest is still uploading, will update later)

If you guys want, I can also upload some more screenshots of these chapters too, and refresh your memories/show updates (especially since I couldn't show any of the dialog before since I hadn't inserted it XD).

What I've Been Doing

2011-02-01T22:12:00.002-05:00

- Chapter 22 script format/insertion
- Chapter 23 script format/insertion
- Chapter 23x script format/insertion
- Music insertion
- A lot of thinking/planning
- Chapter 25 script creation (already formatted and ready to go except for one recruitment I have to add)
- Chapter 25 event planning (planned in my mind)
- Getting portrait revisions done slowly (thanks to Nayr of course! =D)
- Slowly uploading videos of TU (see youtube per usual, too lazy to post link ATM)

That's all I got for ya today.

Tales of Bravery

2011-01-30T02:12:00.002-05:00

Time to shamelessly advertise a hack that doesn't belong in a blog about another hack!!! w00t!

The first Tales of Bravery patch is out! For those who don't know, it's an incoming Tales/Fire Emblem crossover hack of mine. I will be releasing a patch after every chapter.

Play now, comment now, tell everyone now!

Tales of Bravery Download
Tales of Bravery Download Mirror

Due to the system I will be using, these links will always have the latest patch. I hope. Meaning that I won't have to update links on forums anymore, but just let you know that there's a new release. Which saves me a LOT of work. Oh yeah, here are links to the main forum threads:

http://forums.feshrine.net/index.php?showtopic=3981
http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=24529

Videos and screenshots up tomorrow once I get some sleep. Oh, but I won't be updating here, since this is about Tactics Universe, and I'd like to try and keep it about Tactics Universe whenever possible. XD

See ya guys around!

~ Blazer

V4.6 Beta 2

2011-01-29T18:32:00.000-05:00

The Tactics Universe v4.6 beta has been updated. It's now "Beta 2". It's still not a final version as I've only really tested Sieg's mode. See the README in the download for more information (the download link is the exact same as it was before so I'm not going to update that).

Also, please report any more bugs/glitches and even minor problems so that they can be fixed either in the next problem fix patch or the final version of the game (which will be the last patch, v7). =D

- Blazer

Don't play the patch!

2011-01-25T22:39:00.000-05:00

Apparently FEditor Adv fucked things up or something so I have to figure out how to solve some random ass glitches again

so don't play it yet

sorry >_>

New Tactics Universe Patch v4.6

2011-01-25T17:35:00.002-05:00

Normally I say a lot more during things like releases on the blog than any forum, but I'm really not upto it, so I'm going to copy and paste:

A new patch of Tactics Universe is out. As usual I'm going to copy the README to this post so that you guys know what all the changes are. There's nothing majorly new (no new chapters) but the game is overall much better, IMO.

Enjoy!

README

v4.6.0 BETA January 25th, 2010

This patch includes many changes to the game. These are improvement changes that will (hopefully) make your playthroughs more fun and enjoyable, as well as easier to understand, epic, and less buggy. Specifically, it includes

- Text revisions on all of Siegfried's story (prologue-chapter 10) that extend the story, fix script errors, get rid of, and add components to the story, generally making it flow better and make more sense
- Updated the prologue with a cutscene of Ostia being taken over
- Bug fixes--Liquid's recruitment scene SHOULD be fixed (if it's not, I'll give up and won't try and fix it until the next patch, but I won't make another patch to fix it), as well as co-ordinate problems on chapter 10, amongst other minor issues
- Emulator optimization -- TU should now play near perfect on VBA v1.7.2 as well as GBA emu ports to the Wii, Supercard DS2 (an NDS flashcart), and hopefully PSP and iPhone.
- Major character rebalancing (characters are less broken in general and are less likely to max most of their stats by level 20/10, mainly Cia, Shuuda, etc.)

There may have been other changes I forgot (oh yeah, forgot to say that I
redistributed promotion items--you shouldn't have a hard time promoting your
units unless you have too many of one type, in which case you have to wait for
more promotion items... =\). Also, chapters 22-24 are pretty much done
(minus touching them up bug-fix wise and inserting scripts for chapters 23 and 23x), leaving chapters 25-27, and then the final chapter, so you know how the rest of the game is planned.

The "Character Balancing" file in the Information Folder details the rebalancing I've gone through. Special thanks to Swordsalmon for the help/drive with this.

Also note that the XDelta patch now uses normal tiling instead of the DS Battle Backgrounds (but the UPS DS Patch is still there).

Lastly, the reason why this is a beta is because it has NOT been thoroughly tested.
I've made a lot of changes so there could have been something I missed or something
new I caused, or worse, something I did while hacking the game that I forgot to
take out. Please let me know if this is the case (see contact file).

That is all. Enjoy!

Tactics Universe v4.6 Download
Tactics Universe v4.6 Mirror

Oh yeah, by the way, if you have any suggestions for hacks I should add to my list of hacks at http://www.feshrine.net/hacking/patches.html please mention them to me, as I want to make a much longer list. I know some of them already but I tend to forget them. I'll include japanese ones too, but I won't be able to add screenshots or details on them unless someone can supply said screenshots and details to me.

Also, I've announced a new hack, Tales of Bravery, which can be seen on the Fire Emblem Shrine forums, and the Serenes Forest forums.

And (I'm being productive! XD) I also renewed the domain of the Fire Emblem Shrine for 2 more years, so that's safe.

Oh wait, lastly (heck yeah!) I updated the Ultimate Tutorial (3 new chapters) and re-added the online version of it, in case any of you were making use of that. Google should take you there or something.

That's about it, expect chapter 22 videos soon/eventually.

Tactics Info Updated

2011-01-18T12:52:00.002-05:00

I SHOULD be studying for finals some more (today's finals went great! =D) but instead I updated the Character Recruitment, Special Conversation, AND Secret Items page (not that there are many special items to get lol).

I'll wait on some more votes to see what I'll update next. Eventually I'll add a page on secret shops since I'm guessing no one found the secret shops in chapter 19 or 20 (no offense, lulz).

Oh yeah, and ANSWER THE QUESTIONNAIRE BELOW. GO GO GO. I don't even have 10 responses yet so as it is now there definitely won't be a second round... lolll.

That's all, folks.

Tactics Universe Questionnaire!

2011-01-15T23:33:00.006-05:00

Do you think YOU know a lot about Tactics Universe? Well, I can pretty much guarantee that you don't know more than me, but how much DO you know? You should take this questionnaire and find out, of course!

I'm going to make this fun and draw it out into two rounds. The first round will be multiple choice--easy stuff, since the answer is out there, and all you have to do is grab it. I'll post the second round of questions later, and they will be "word answers" (you'll see when it comes).

So, all you do is send me an e-mail at smashfire17@gmail.com with your online name and the answers, numbered 1-10, to this test. After a week, I'll make a list of everyone who answered and their score. Everyone who gets a 7/10 or higher will move on to the next round where they can possibly win a mention in the Fire Emblem Shrine's hall of fame, a chance to beta test Tactics Universe probably about a month before the final version comes out OR get their own character added (if they don't already have one) to the bonus dungeon of the game (I can't spoil anymore about that!), bragging rights (w00t! who doesn't want bragging rights?), OR a free "Blazor-favor" where I will personally check your personal hacking project/ROM hack for issues (either a specific problem, general testing, critique, whatever, I will give one-on-one help with your hack to the best of my capability and as time allows).

So there's a lot up for grabs here. Whatever the 1st place person is up for grabs to the 2nd and 3rd place winners (if the contest has enough people). Also, if you're too lazy to e-mail me, you can use the contact form at http://www.feshrine.net/contact.html.

Now, for the quiz!

Tactics Universe Questionnaire
----------------------------------

1) What is the full name of the prologue boss?

A) Byron the Beast
B) Byron the Banana
C) Byron the Bulldog
D) Byron the Lion
E) BATTA THE BEAST!!!

2) What are the gaiden requirements for chapter 5x?

A) Beat the chapter in 15 turns or less.
B) Visit the random room with a shaman in it.
C) Kill the random mage in the corner.
D) Keep Arthur alive for the entire chapter.

3) During the dialog of the game, Noah calls himself

A) the Greatest Mercenary
B) the Benevolent Mercenary
C) the Gorgeous Mercenary
D) the Rebellious Mercenary

4) What chapter does Siegfried first name the rebellion?

A) Chapter 1, when they take Bulgar
B) Chapter 4, when they defeat the Gorn tribe
C) Chapter 7, when Cia first joins
D) Chapter 9, when Chief Haas joins

5) How many (living) mercenaries are there in Kelik's group?

A) 3
B) 4
C) 5
D) 6

6) What is the name of the Alexian soldier who decides to help the rebels reconquer Alexia?

A) Sam
B) David
C) Ralph
D) He doesn't have a name, he's too generic!

(Note: The messenger in chapter 12 is Ricardo... I wanted to make that question, but it'd be a waste to have two similar questions about generics!)

7) The majority of this game's custom songs were originally composed by

A) Yuki Tsujiyoko
B) Nobuo Uematsu
C) Motoi Sakuraba
D) Blazer

8) Zoro is a cameo from which anime series?

A) Pokemon
B) Naruto
C) One Piece
D) Bleach
E) Fairy Tail

9) According to conversations with characters in the game, what is the amulet that Kelik and Yue wear?

A) It strengthens the powers of the user and unlocks their full potential.
B) It sucks on the life force of the user in exchange for power, slowly eating away at their soul.
C) It has a special gem that contains magical power that can be unleashed at any time, but corrupts the person if they have a weak mind.
D) It is a gem infused with power that grows with emotions, feelings, and death, and that, when unleashed, shortens the life-span of the user.

10) How long was this game's first official public patch? (Any long-time fans should know this! =D)

A) Prologue-Chapter 1
B) Prologue-Chapter 4
C) Prologue-Chapter 5
D) Prologue-Chapter 10

BONUS) What is the name of the Mage General of Etruria?*

A) Galagar
B) Gabriel
C) Parival
D) Ragalag

I have like, 30 more questions where that came from! And I haven't even finished this game's supports! =O Like, who is Mark's cousin, what's the name of Sieg's wife, who taught Earnest how to fight, who is Rex's father, how many castle-indoor chapters are there, where is the item-get/weapon-level-up sound effect from, what chapter does Tekun first appear in, which FE4 character cameos in this hack, I could keep on going... but I won't. Anyhow, I'm looking forward to some responses.

See ya around!

~ Blazer

UPDATE: I need to say, the poll on the right doesn't include character stats/growths or walkthrough crap because I'm still rebalancing the game and making aesthetical changes, and I have to do a lot of touching up before I can release the rebalance patch, and THEN I can update everything properly (even the tier list isn't going to be permanent, it'll have to be updated when I'm done rebalancing). Sorry for the inconvenience.

UPDATE2: *I felt bad about some of the questions I made last night so I'm adding a bonus question. As long as you get 7 out of 11 questions right or more, you still move on.

Prologue Revamp, Hacking Break, and the Poll on the Right

2011-01-05T21:51:00.004-05:00

1) I've made several changes to the prologue. A video detailing them will be at the end of this post. FYI, part of my work will be to fix-up and touch-up older chapters in whatever ways possible while minimizing the amount of time I'm spending on them (i.e. I don't want to have to completely remake chapters or spend tons of time editing them).

2) I'm going to be taking a hacking break, for the most part. That's kind of a given, though, as winter break is over. Today was the exception as I was and still am sick (D=).

3) The poll on the right seems pretty decisive (only one person thinks I shouldn't add a chapter... well, either that, or they misclicked when they voted...). Thus I will be planning a big chapter where you have to conquer multiple castles (with generic sub-bosses on every one but the final one). It'll be packed full of action (it'll feel like a huge war... at least, I'll try to make it feel like that) with tons of enemies and NPC's. And of course, allies. :P

That's it. See ya guys around!

Another To-Do List

2010-12-30T22:50:00.004-05:00

(Because organizing myself and making a blog post feels like I'm actually being productive)

TODO:

- Insert 3 chapter scripts*
- Fix up a few portraits (coloring, updates)
- Get an animation for Galagar, King Louis (I'm thinking Black Knight recolor, anyone have such a thing? XP), and final boss**
- Release rebalance patch (oh wait I gotta test the game myself first...)
~~- last-minute fixes to chapter 24~~
~~- fix cavalier animation glitch (NOOOOO!!!!)~~
~~- fix savior game freeze glitch (NOOOOO!!!!)~~ (I THINK I did...)
- get pizza***
~~- complain about how the Liquid glitch and house glitch are unsolvable and no one wants to give me savestates to fix them >_>~~ consider it done
- rework much of the old chapters (text and other stuff) (in progress)
~~- maybe revamp chapter 6~~ Decided it was too much work
- maybe add a chapter 26 to expand on the battle in Etruria, which has been highly rushed... *note to self: make poll about it* Poll has been made, decided to add it after all =)
- update this to do list (in progress)
- finish this to do list (in progress)

*(I can assure you this won't be crossed out for a long while)
** (oshi--Louis isn't the final boss! and this one also won't be done for a while)
***my appetite seems never ending and yet I'm so skinny... thank goodness I play basketball

Last updated January 5th, 2010.

Chapter 24 Teaser

2010-12-28T18:55:00.002-05:00

No screenshots because I haven't done the ending scene or done our new Druid's recruitment stuff but I do have a nice video for you. And I shall copy the description over here too (yes, I wrote the description on youtube first).

THIS IS JUST A TEASER

It's not even remotely close to the real thing. All my units are crazy weak and underleveled (cept Siegfried Anakin and Levion, because Levion starts off overleveled, lol), and the real map has fog of war, VERY tough enemies (stats in the 20's), and Renault doesn't just stand in one place.

But yeah, remember when Renault whooped Kelik, and was about to whoop Anakin, until "Langer" (the dark voice Renault mentioned) said otherwise? Well, it seems King Louis didn't like that and told Langer to finish the job, so he's sent Renault, the famed "Slayer" (with a bad custom animation, I KNOW I KNOW, DON'T CRITIQUE IT) to finish the job.

Renault's class is very powerful and is a "clean-swipe" class, intended to defeat generic enemies in one hit, because his speed is not very great (well, relative, 22 speed is good, but his strength is WAY more). Granted we don't use generic enemies so only weak characters will get owned in one hit, but if you get doubled, YOU'RE SCREWED, because there's no way you can survive the amount of damage Renault pulls out of nowhere.

So no, I don't suggest using generals or high-defense units. RENAULT WILL SLAY THEM. :(

...That is all.

Another Bugfix Patch - v4.5.3

2010-12-23T15:52:00.002-05:00

So yeah, another one coming to ya. I will update this post, as well as the mainsite, FES, and SF, with the updated patch. Other sites only get links to other sites because I can't be bothered to manage every site... heheh.

For now, here is the README. The download link will be right above the README when I add it.

Tactics Universe v4.5.3 Download
Tactics Universe v4.5.3 Download Mirror

----------------------

v4.5.3 December 23rd, 2010

The increase in the secondary version number means that I have completed another chapter. While this chapter isn't in the patch (because I am saving it for the final release), I still change the version # accordingly. In addition, several bugfixes have been made, as listed below.

- Ben no longer is killed/disappears at the beginning of chapter 21
- Liquid no longer auto-recruits in chapter 21 (lol)
- Siegfried's death quote has been fixed
- This is sort of pointless, but some music changes forced some bosses to lose thier music, but it was regained, both changes happening between this and the last version of the patch (lol)
- Dragon Axe description removed due to glitchiness/me not wanting to fix it
- Chapter 19 black screen freeze glitch after conversation with Howard that only happens on v1.7.2 and lower is fixed (the obvious solution would be to update your emulator to the v1.8.0 beta)

Note: a few mysterious bugs were reported, such as when certain characters fight Ethan, the chapter 18 sub-boss, in which the game froze or had some other weird consequences. Please update to the latest version of the patch AND VisualBoyAdvance emulator (or for Wii users, the latest version of the VBA port, or the latest firmware or whatever for flashcart users). If you still encounter the problem, I would REALLY appreciate it if you would contact me immediately with a savestate so that I can experience the problem myself and try and fix it, because I have tried to reproduce certain glitches and was not successful (making me think that there is nothing wrong with the game...).

Full Speed Ahead!

2010-12-18T22:53:00.002-05:00

Progress is going great with TU. Today I finished up another chapter, all in one day. Well, I think it was. It's been a long day so I'm hesitating about whether I started it this morning or last night... >_<

Unfortunately I can tell you no more about all the great progress I made today because the details are a secret. Instead, all I can tell you is that chapter 24 is up next, and it's going to be one heck of a chapter. You're going to get a Druid by the name of Rana and see two familiar faces--both of which are unfriendly. You'll also get to fight a character from another game who you've already seen in cutscenes, and fight against a custom class... as well as see one of the saddest moments in all of Tactics Universe, filled with emotion, filled with rage, indignation, sorrow, and excitement...

Chapter 24 is coming up, and in the mean time, I will be uploading videos of "Tactics Secrets", a mini-series that shows secrets of TU, as well as videos of chapter 22 and on, once I finally get an animation for Shon's Arch Knight class! (Oh wait that might never happen! -facepalm-*)

*if I can't get one he is stealing the Knight Lord animation from Siegfried... My excuse will not be laziness, inability to sprite horses, inability to persuade the few good battle spriters to help me out, or me not really being fond of Shon as a character as a whole (well not everyone can be awesome), but rather, "like father like son..."

New Bugfix Patch

2010-12-17T20:33:00.004-05:00

I have a lot of stuff to do, so I'm just going to get this over with. Below the download is a copy/paste of the README for more info.

Tactics Universe v4.4.2 Download
Tactics Universe v4.4.2 Download MIRROR

README
-----------

v4.4.2 December 17th, 2010

A delayed bugfix patch with several fixes and additions as well, including one

major one where chapter 18 was being skipped. Changelist included. Thanks to all

the people who reported bugs as well as Nayr and Nickt for the portrait stuff.

Changes
--------

- chapter 17x now goes to chapter 18 intead of 19
- the Haas x Liquid fight text in chapter 9 is fixed
- Fixed the Halberdier/Nomad hybrid in chapter 4
- Lorraine's (chapter 7x boss's) generic battle text is fixed
- inserted updated Anakin portrait thanks to Nickt
- inserted recolored Anna & Jake portraits thanks to Nayr
- replaced the old Yue portrait with a new one, because Dei doesn't want his

Sigurd-recolor being used anymore
- Devil Axe critical is now back to 0 (lol)

Please let me know if there are any other major problems ASAP so that I don't
lose motivation to fix it or get busy. Thanks, and enjoy.

Two Videos

2010-12-14T16:34:00.002-05:00

One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=627NTwFYZPU - the patch release video (not a trailer or montage or anything)

Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RKyPB348dA - a notice about contributions to this hack that all contributors should see

That is all.

The Patch Is Out!

2010-12-13T21:09:00.003-05:00

Quicker than I expected, too! This is why I don't have deadlines, though. I just can't stick to them!

(Sorry for the "weirdness" of the columns, the blog can only fit 2 screens instead of 3... >_>)

The patch? http://www.feshrine.net/tactics/

Or just below:

Tactics Universe v4.4 Download
Tactics Universe v4.4 Download MIRROR

Check out youtube and the Fire Emblem Shrine Forums thread for other stuff like discussion and details and stuffz.

Now go download, play, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK (because I am such a sucker for comments and I know it) and of course, enjoy! (Cliche lines for the win!)

I Can Feel the Patch

2010-12-11T23:00:00.003-05:00

I only have 4 more things to do before I am ready to make the patch (granted, releasing it takes a whole day within itself... >_>) but I still feel that if I don't want to sacrifice school and sleep, the patch won't be ready until next week.

The GOOD NEWS is that the patch is going to be absolutely awesome and it'll be released just at the beginning of winter break for most people (I think) so it'll be a great way to start off your winter break! Hah! XD

To check out the continued progress of the hack, check the post below!

While I'm at it, here are a couple of videos. Oh, and when you see screenshots of the game (which I haven't put up in a long while since I haven't done any new content or new patches), that means the patch IS OUT! (Just felt like saying that!)

Kelik OHKO's Zane - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63XngT8L3LU
Chapter 21 Cutscene/Endscene - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RApG4CRd8Ow

List of Problems/To Do list

2010-12-07T17:45:00.013-05:00

This is what I gotta do BEFORE I release the patch.

By the way, inform everyone that a new Tactics Universe patch is coming out so they can be ready for it for winter break/as many people play it as possible! lol

To Do List:

~~- Lighten chapter 20 generic enemies~~
~~- Fix Heaven Seal for Kelik~~
~~- Make patch go to credits at chapter 21~~
~~- Make temporary characters in chapter 8 retain levels (if possible)~~
~~- Fix Shinshou's portrait~~
- Insert Halberdier Map Sprite
- Insert Slayer Map Sprite
~~- either fix chapter 5x or remove it~~ - FIXED!
~~- Insert Jarod's new portrait~~
~~- Insert Lorraine's new portrait~~
~~- Insert Roman's updated portrait~~
~~- Fix Chapter 17x unit positioning~~
~~- Fix the following: "chapter 16 after kelik and anakin talk there's a cursor at the far left screen on the map that should be pointed towards levion"~~
~~- Fix villages that fail in chapter 19~~
- Fix the following: "after chapter 19 there's a side quest, after accepting the side quest it takes you to chapter 18x prisoner of magic from FE7. If you skip the cut scene and go right to the side quest it works."
~~- Organize/fix up sound room~~
~~- If time, play game with hax stats and fix whatever I myself find since my betatesters are incompetent~~ - No time
~~- Take screenshots of the game, mainly the new chapters~~
~~- Package the game with proper instructions, patch, savestate(s), credits, etc.~~

Progress: 19/19 = 100% done

Over It

2010-11-29T20:05:00.003-05:00

I'm over whatever was stopping me from acting normal recently... well, at least I hope I am. *I've hidden Starcraft 2 in a place I am too lazy to navigate to, caught up with school, and while I'm socially drained, it might be better that way because now I have a lot of free time when I'm not dealing with people... LOL*

Despite the fact that my betatesters suck, I am going to move on. To start, chapter 5x got completely screwed, so I have to go to a back-up and reconfigure the whole chapter, or just scrap the chapter as a whole. The latter would kinda be unfortunate though since it's one of the few extra things I actually had the time to implement in the game...

Aside from that, I just need to put in some map sprites and portraits, make the end of the game loop into but never out of the credits (which I am too lazy to update), and then fix a few more glitches (I only have one legit betatest and it was REALLY short so I only have like 2 things that were reported to fix).

In the mean time I'm hoping the other betatesters will revive themselves, Sleipnir actually sends me a betatest in a comprehensible form (no offense to you, I just can't deal with all the e-mails), and hope that my teachers give very little amounts of homework so I can catch up with my site.

Speaking of that, I will get a bank account soon (once again, I hope) so once that happens and I can configure a paypal account I should take care of my silly financial issues (LET'S JUST BLAME THE FREAKING ECONOMY).

P.S. If you hear anything about drama or lawyers, just ignore it, that's all trolls are made of now adays. :D

Gah

2010-11-22T19:22:00.002-05:00

Well my site is down, a bunch of people are trying to steal my hack, I have tons of homework and tests, but not any money, my betatesters all suck and haven't betatested crap but just got free demos of my hack, and I feel like punching myself so I smash through the walls like they do in DBZ.

How's that for a blog post?

>_>

- Blazer

Announcement to Betatesters

2010-11-05T20:10:00.007-04:00

I don't remember who I said would ever betatest my game and I'm not up to searching for people to do it, so read and absorb what I say.

I'm letting people betatest Tactics Universe. Because I want this to be a very thorough betatest, I am letting 5 people betatest it. Here's what it takes to be qualified:

1) Must know how to patch and play games*.
2) Must have enough free time and skill in Fire Emblem such that you can play the game thoroughly by next week (preferably November 12th: I may extend the deadline to the 15th because I conveniently have stuff to do that weekend).
3) Must read through, or at the very least, skim, Chapter 62 of the Ultimate Tutorial, which details how to properly betatest. Essentially it tells you what to look for while betatesting and how to make a proper betatest report so that everything wrong with the the game is caught.
4) You cannot be someone who will LP the game in the future because I don't want a beta being spoiled for LPers/people who make videos in general.

*Not wasting time teaching people how to play hacks >_>

If you're up for it, then please e-mail me at smashfire17@gmail.com saying what your online name is, if I know you, that you'd like to betatest it (duh), and anything else pertinent to the topic. Please get to me ASAP.

Trust me, despite the fact that the chapter is so long, I don't expect a perfect job of betatesting. Just a good one. I don't want people to just play the game normally and at the end type up a few things they thought should be changed. It should just be a constant analytical effort to play the game and try and make it as good as possible. ^_^

- Blazer

Betatester Positions Left: 0

Current Betatesters: Sleipnir36, Vincent, Blazing_Soul, AlexhandreH100, Skyeatshelicopter

Progress Update - New Patch Soon

2010-11-03T22:43:00.002-04:00

I'm slowly uploading videos you can find on youtube.

I got a cool portrait for a cool thing that I shouldn't spoil, and yeah.

My free time is slowly increasing (Winter = less sports, less stuff in general because I don't like doing things when it's snowing outside) and I'll have a good break over Thanksgiving to wrap up some stuff.

On my To Do list (the one in my head) is to make the game stop at chapter 21, fix everything up, and release a new patch. I wanted to wait until the full game, or perhaps at chapter 19, before the heroes travel to Bern, but I'd feel bad if I kept chapters 20-23 ALL private to you even though they are done, so I'm just keeping a couple of the chapters away from the upcoming patch.

The catch is I'm going to need to find adequate betatesters, but before I do that I feel I should write the chapter on how to properly betatest a hack in my Ultimate Tutorial, so I'm going to need to do that, prepare a beta, have it betatested, make corrections, and release a patch hopefully in Thanksgiving, if not later, latest by Winter Break if nothing goes wrong.

Sigh, I'm tired of typing and not having pictures. My blog has become one big wall of text.

*sigh*

It's Decided

2010-10-27T18:20:00.004-04:00

I'm finishing the main game first. There's no way the first option is making a comeback in this poll. o_O

Well, while I'm at it, here's a little tidbit on what's happened since chapter 15 (and I'm gonna make some DBZ references, while I'm at it):

------------------

Last time on Tactics Universe, Elibe's special forces defeated the sinister Erik, whose life was cut short by Kelik. The group then headed towards Caelin, approaching from the east, where it was less guarded. Ben and Roman, two mercenaries under the command of Captain Drake (who, for still unknown reasons, did not join--nor did any of his other mercenaries), joined their forces, with Ben in the main division and Roman in a secondary division. While wiping the outside of Caelin clear of Etrurian forces, Shuuda, Inanna, and Gordon join the fray--they were timely rescued by Levion, who's next mission is to find Shon.

At the end of the battle, Levion and Shon find Anakin, Kelik, and crew at the gate. Shortly after their reunion they enter the castle; however, Kelik stays back to meet a sinister figure in the background. This warrior makes quick work of Kelik, who, rashly assumes he is an enemy and fights him head on. Anakin attempts to come to the rescue, but the real savior of the day is the enemy's superior, who spares Anakin and Kelik on a whim.

Inside, Kelik is sent to rescue Siegfried, while the rest of the army fights off Tristan and his troops inside of Caelin. Shon and Siegfried happily reunite.

Some time later, Kelik makes a deal with a pirate band in order to gain access to a ship that can move the rebellion's army past the Ostian river. In a tough "Davy Back Fight", they get the best of Zoro and the pirates, and soon find themselves a short distance from Fort Darner, which itself is a short distance from the Ostian gate, guarded by Howard and his legion, with Fort Darner guarded by the young, proud Etrurian called Ethan. The rebellions surround the enemy and capture both in one fell swoop, and quickly continue to take on Earnest and his men inside the castle, before Etrurian reinforcements arrive.

Inside Ostia, an Etrurian named Rex joins the group to redeem himself for his father's disgraceful actions. Once the Universe Rebellion conquers Ostia, they look for imprisoned Ostian civilians, and stumble upon a scholar and spy by the name of Yue, who has kept Paul, the Marquess of Ostia, alive.

NEXT TIME, ON TACTICS UNIVERSE Z

I'm Alive

2010-10-16T23:06:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I'm alive, just not doing so great. Been astonishingly busy with school (I always think that I'm going to have free time if I work hard and don't waste time, and yet I always end up busy for more hours than I want to count) and I wasn't on any forums or "social interaction" sites for like a month, then returned to my near-dead forum, but still have only started to get back into my normal online habits...

[/rant]

I never did upload those chapter 21 videos. After having the incomplete ones sit on my desktop for about 2 months, I rendered them, but I'm only like 1/2 way done recording the chapter, so... :(

In terms of actual game process, I haven't done crap since like, the last post. Yep, I always act like I'm going to accomplish so much, and even if I DO accomplish a ton (which I DID) it never lasts long enough. I'll let you guys know if I ever get past chapter 24 though. Oh, and I've decided to cut my game a little shorter too, if possible, so I can release this stuff.

Now I just need some motivation and some feedback on my plot that I worked so hard on... lol. *and maybe if I had formatted scripts, I could work faster...*

School is Starting, Revamp Work?

2010-08-25T11:11:00.002-04:00

Stupid school is starting soon. Yay for alliteration. Boo for school.

Obviously with school starting tomorrow I won't have as much free time. Which means if I hack, I have to pretty much spend ALL of my freetime hacking, because otherwise I don't have enough time to accomplish anything. Hopefully that makes sense--hacking doesn't get anywhere if you do 15 minutes a day. By the time I open up all my programs and figure out what I should be doing next it's 15 minutes. -_-

Also, some stuff in Siegfried's mode needs to be gone over. In addition I'd like some PROPER betatesting done where I don't have reports of all these crappy glitches. Hardly anyone likes glitches that interfere with the gameplay (the missingno. glitch in Pokemon Red is one of the few good and abused ones lol). So I figure I'll spend any free time on that.

By the way, the reason nobody saw any chapter 21 videos is because after I recorded them, I trashed them. There were some glitches, I had to pause, background sound from my microphone (I wasn't doing commentary but I WAS recording with a screen recorder because I didn't feel like mass-fixing VBA's desync issue), I died like 10 times even WITH savestate abusing (and I don't approve of savestate abusing in actual playthroughs)... So pretty much yeah, it was dumb. But I've trashed that, so it's all good. I'll re-record them and upload'em later.

See ya guys around.

Chapter 23x is Done

2010-08-18T20:51:00.002-04:00

Meaning I'm taking a break because I'm tired of hacking *and most importantly, bugfixing*. Yep, I was on a real good roll--4 complete custom chapters in 4 days, if I'm keeping track right. You WISH other hacks got that much progress (even non-custom hacks don't get that much progress, lol).

The trick? Wake up really early in the morning when nothing is going on around the house, kick yourself into overdrive, work your butt off, know what you're doing, and don't waste time chatting on AIM or browsing websites. :P

A'ight, I said enough. When I'm done with my break (who knows how long it'll be) I'll do the scripts for chapter 21 and start making videos/fixing any last problems, continuing that process until I reach chapter 24. ^_^

Finished Chapter 23

2010-08-17T20:54:00.002-04:00

Seriously. I did. And I'm moving on to the next chapters. Oh, good news. Exxucus got me his maps. Bad news, I have 3 classes that don't have battle animations, and 4 classes that don't have map sprites. And it's just bugging me. Good news. It's not game-breaking, so I can write up scripts and events for these chapters anyhow. Bad news. I waited a bit too long to kick it into overdrive like I am now--school starts in a week and summer homework awaits me... More bad news. No screenshots. Takes too much effort. You'll have to just compliment me on my work and assume that I actually did it (which I did). Later.

Chapter 21 and 22 Screenshots

2010-08-17T07:28:00.005-04:00

Since scripts are incomplete, I am avoiding touching the scripts. I'm going to be uploading a video soon asking whether people think I should upload gameplay videos or not, because at this point I'm not sure, but if I spend my time doing it, I want to make sure it's for a good reason. I decided not to upload a video. :\

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

I just have to give another thanks to Exxucus for his amazing maps. It's one of the reasons why this hack is so good. His awesome maps force me to do the best that I can when making these chapters.

Let me know what you think/enjoy!

Chapter 21 and 22 Done

2010-08-16T17:52:00.002-04:00

They're done, excluding the script, which I have yet to format and insert. But I don't want to do that, because it's a tedious and boring job...

Stuff I'm waiting on:

- Gaiden map
- Shon's promoted animation
- Fixed Renault!Slayer map sprite
- Formatted scripts

These things are my most pressing and annoying concerns. Well the script is the main annoying thing. Glitches can be annoying too, though. This youtube video just shows one instance of glitch galore.

Back to Work - Chapter 20 Complete

2010-08-16T01:18:00.004-04:00

I'm going back to work, but only for a short while. School starts in about a week, so I gotta crank down on everything that I haven't finished this summer--one of those many things is TU. I'm going to rampage through this and get as much done on TU as I can, even though since I don't have maps and animations, I know I won't get done by the end of summer. *So you'd be silly to vote that in the new poll on the right*

...Anyway, here are your (late) chapter 20 screens. FYI I've been working my butt off and got chapter 21 finished too, minus the script, which I made, but haven't inserted. Later today, when I got to bed and wake up again, I'm going to do chapter 22. And then tomorrow, who knows what'll happen. =P

(Epic sprites courtesy of Nayr, Exxucus, Blazer, Dei, Eclipse40, and Swordsalmon)

See ya around.

EDIT: I never did post this video here. It's called "The Black Halberdier". Click here to watch it.

Bleh

2010-08-02T00:24:00.002-04:00

Other stuff has kept me busy... so I am unexpectedly busy... bleh...

A couple days ago I uploaded the videos of ch20 that I said I would--well, actually just the opening scene and Kelik's animation, but I think they are both pretty cool videos so hopefully they should satisfy you.

Sorry for the slow updating and progress. "IRL" stuff comes up and suddenly my time disappears. :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooHfw18dNxs

Oh yeah, before I forget, I will be taking a break from stuff for a while. That includes this project. Yes, this project is going on hiatus... which stinks. Trust me, I am more disappointed that I am going to have to delay this lame project than you are. See ya around.

~ Blazer

Kelik's Promoted Animation

2010-07-22T23:47:00.007-04:00

I have finished spriting it. Well, mostly. I just have to recolor it to match Kelik's colors. After that I am going to insert his and Tekun's promoted animations. I will also insert map sprites for the Noble, Legend, and Slayer classes, so that we can finally move along with screenshots and videos of my hard work on chapter 20. This should ALL be done by LATEST the time the poll on the right closes. I'd like to think sooner, but sicknesses, driving lessons, and studying always unpredictably keep me busy.

Then I upload the chapter 20 opening scene (which is like 10 minutes o_O), show some of the new characters, and then face off against Bern's imperial general--the only one left of its three--Zane. You'll find out more about this general IN-GAME. >:)

EDIT: GOOD NEWS!

I finished.

:D

It has to be one of the best animations to ever be created for a Fire Emblem game. Absolutely sick. And I'm not just saying this because I spent 3 days spriting it and a few hours animating it in-game. No, because it is truly awesome.

Hopefully vids tomorrow, because I'm busy all this afternoon, and still have to insert some map sprites and finish off a few other chapter 20 things ~~and do Tekun's awesome animaton~~. The good thing is, once this is done I won't have to worry about custom battle animations or map sprites until chapter... 26. *and then I have to do the final boss's animation, which will of course be awesome...* [/rant]

EDIT2: Tekun's animation is done (video below). Also, I'm inserting map sprites, but am not having luck with some of them due to unknown issues (I'd guess color issues, but I don't see why the colors would be a problem either T_T).

Another Fruitless Update

2010-07-20T20:57:00.002-04:00

The tree is growing, but I don't have any fruits to show, because they aren't quite ripe.

In other words, chapter 20 is making good progress--the opening scene took a while due to its sheer length (if you read the text it could take 10 minutes to watch) and I've done the "general events" leaving just the enemies, reinforcements (there won't be as many as some chapters, trust me) and ending scene.

...Along with some other stuff here and there.

So it should take another couple days to finish that up.

So what exactly is stopping me from showing progress?

- Animation Glitches
- Lack of map sprites (they're being worked on)
- Lack of complete animations (Tekun's sprites are done; Anakin's is 100% done; I will start Kelik's soon; Shon's animation is just started; Siegfried's haven't been started; Eligor's is 100% done; Mage General's haven't been started; Trueblade is done, but not inserted; most battle palettes [unpromoted and promoted] are done)

Once I can get Kelik's and Tekun's animations done, and Anakin's animation working again (it started being stupid), insert a bunch of map sprites, and finish chapter 20, I will gladly post screenshots and a video of two of all the work I've been doing.

Sorry for the text updates, I'm sure it's disappointing...

- Blazer

Status Update

2010-07-16T18:21:00.003-04:00

The FE12 Translation Patch is mostly out of the way (I might make some minor fixes later) so I'm back onto what this blog is REALLY about, Tactics Universe.

So, portrait progress is going pretty well. There's only... maybe 3 or 4 new portraits that need to be done, and some portraits that need to be fixed.

Oh and I finished typing the longest script in the game thus far, chapter 20's script. It's so long I imagine if you actually read the text it'll take 20 minutes before you get there. <_<

Other news, if I don't get map sprites soon I might just stop caring and post screenshots and videos anyway. D:

Translation Patch of FE3DS?

2010-07-13T18:52:00.002-04:00

I'm thinking of translating 'FE3DS', AKA 'FE12', which I will now consistently call 'FE12' despite the fact that it is a remake.

I already have a bunch of experience with DS hacking--I've made my own nightmare modules and lots of documentation on hacking the game, as well as three FE11 hacks--so I thought it'd be cool to have a translation project for once and translate the menus and names of FE12 into English until the game comes out in Europe and North America (assuming it's released outside Japan--which it better be).

Of course, if I do this, this will delay the progress of Tactics Universe a bit, so... I'll let you know if I decide on it and if I do, I'll try and finish it up ASAP so I can get cranking on TU again.

That being said, chapter 19x is 100% done, and I finished some other stuff, so I'll be doing the script for an awesome cutscene in chapter 20 and then move on to an epic but sad battle in Bern for chapter 21. You'll see what I mean when it comes. ^_^

Chapter 19x Almost Done

2010-07-13T00:43:00.002-04:00

Chapter 19x is pretty much done. I actually just started this evening and am almost finished already, which goes to show that when I have free time, I can get stuff done. *I've been exceptionally busy for a couple days*

ANYWAY, here's a video for you guys to snack out. Please read the video description if you're going to comment (I do like comments, don't get me wrong). XP.

If I can get map sprites, I'll start showing screenshots. D:

Chapter 19 Complete

2010-07-11T03:00:00.003-04:00

I finished Chapter 19 yesterday, on my birthday, coincidentally. It only took me two days (yes, I started on Friday, and I haven't been doing any TU hacking before that).

I'll be doing some website work today (once I go to bed...) and start chapter 19x, be done with that VERY quickly, and then move onto chapter 20 once I get the map. Which is all good progress.

It's too bad I was busy with FE:SC and the Ultimate Tutorial because my schedule I had made some posts back is WAY off... XD And I don't have the maps to continue my hacking anyway. LOL

No screenshots because I need overworld sprites first. You can see a couple videos on youtube. I won't be uploading gameplay videos for a while though, sorry.

Also, I can almost guarantee the game won't be released until the Summer of 2011. Blame battle, overworld, and map spriting. As well as life.

Later~

The NEW Ultimate Tutorial

2010-07-08T19:38:00.002-04:00

There was an ultimate tutorial, once. Then it died out. The end.

Then I revived it, from scratch.

I suggest you see this post I am linking to if you ever want to make a decent hack. It contains a link to my 180+ page WIP Fire Emblem hacking tutorial that should help with tons of things, and may even introduce you to new parts of Fire Emblem hacking, such as the various aspects of graphical hacking (CGs), events, maps (for those who haven't gotten into that yet), music, and whatever else might be there.

With my Ultimate Tutorial being pushed aside for a few weeks (I will get back to it and do the animation chapters later), I can start working on Tactics Universe again. Sort of. I still have limits on how many hours a day I can hack, but it should work out, because when I put the petal to the metal, I work fast.

See ya around!

- Blazer

Why There's Been No Progress...

2010-07-07T05:51:00.002-04:00

If you're wondering why I haven't exactly been making process, it's because:

- I had a trip
- I had "post-trip" stuff
- About 3 days a week I am busy with stuff so I don't have much time to hack then
- Fire Emblem: Sacred Contention
- People coming over to our house (ATM I have a guest staying over for an entire week...)
- Ultimate Tutorial

The final thing on the list is something you may want to take note of. A few of you hackers may know of the old tutorial that was supposed to be an end-all be-all, but never made it there.

Well, I restarted the tutorial from scratch (although I admit I cheated and reused some content from the old UT as well as other tutorials), and I'm trying to cover every subject. After tons of typing and stuff, I only have Events, Battle Animations, and Spell Animations left to cover.

After that, I plan on starting up work on TU again, but idk how that will go with my parents and relatives around... anyhow, if I do start again, you can expect major progress until I get to chapter 20, because I don't have a map for chapter 20. >_<

Enough ranting from me for now. Cya later.

Fire Emblem: Sacred Contention is Released

2010-07-02T23:30:00.003-04:00

For those who aren't yet aware, I finished my hack yesterday and released it yesterday, but waited until today before showcasing it around the internet.

Trailer
Video Playlist

Official Thread - has lots of information and screenshots.

FE:SC Download - Play the game, please! The more the better, right? :D

And tell me what you think, please.

Blazer--Out

Fire Emblem: Sacred Contention

2010-06-26T15:32:00.003-04:00

Here's a switch from Tactics Universe--I am introducing the latest Fire Emblem hack, Fire Emblem: Sacred Contention, to the public.

Official FEShrine Thread

More info on the game will come through time. The game is near completion but does not have a release date yet. Since this is a Tactics Universe blog, I'll refrain from updating about it here until the game is actually released, and then you probably won't hear about it much more (but hopefully you'll be playing and enjoying it).

Status Update

2010-06-24T00:43:00.002-04:00

Well, I guess I'll take this moment out to say I'm back from my trip, and I uploaded some videos of Chapter 18, which you can find on my channel.

Unfortunately I don't have a chapter 19 map yet so I can't continue with this hack. It's not a big deal to me though, since I have plenty of other stuff I can be doing--playing video games, waiting for the weather to stop sucking in my city, studying, spriting, working on another hack, working on my site, reading manga, watching anime, etc... I think I said enough on the matter.

P.S. I actually got back a few days ago, but forgot to update the blog. Heheh. XP

Project Hiatus

2010-06-12T21:58:00.002-04:00

As of Wednesday morning I will be too busy to do any hacking stuff. That will continue until probably Tuesday. So, as of tonight, don't expect any new chapters to be done. I don't have the chapter 19 map done so I can't plan out chapter 19 (I have yet to make a script for it or anything D:).

I may upload videos of Tactics Universe tomorrow. May = possibility. I will still be pretty busy as of tomorrow, going until next Tuesday, as said. Then Tactics Universe should pick up again with one chapter every 3-4 days*.

Very rough and tentative chapter completion plan for the game:

Chapter 19: Saturday, June 26th
Chapter 19x: Wednesday, June 30th
Chapter 20: Tuesday, July 6th
Chapter 21: Sunday, July 11th
Chapter 22: Thursday-Friday, July 15-16th
Chapter 23: Wednesday, July 21st
Chapter 24: Thursday, July 30th
Chapter 25: Tuesday, August 3rd
Chapter 26: Saturday, August 14th
Final Chapter: ??? Who knows??? Maybe I work ahead of time and can finish during summer? Or maybe I do my school work ahead of time and can work during the final week of April? Perhaps I do it amidst my tons of school work and manage to pull it through by Winter Break? Or, if everything goes wrong, or I get too caught up in hacking FE12, the game takes until 2011! This is why I can't give you a release date, or anything close. :(

*My schedule gives myself an extra couple days assuming the worst, so it accounts for very possible and likely delays.

This is more of an informative post than anything else. You'll likely see one or two more posts before I leave, then I'll leave, and I'll stop making such a big deal out of it. I just like keeping people up to date on the project. XP

~ Blazer

About Chapter 18

2010-06-12T19:20:00.004-04:00

There was a tedious script.

There were a lot of bugs.

A lot of conditional events (some of the most annoying events there are, mind you).

A lot of stuff.

I managed. Chapter 18 is now done. For those of you who visit the blog, you get an early peak at this chapter (I won't upload videos until later, and I'm limiting the # of my videos to just a few--probably the intro scene, first part of the battle, and ending scene, per usual).

Actually, I need to make and insert Tamiko's and Anakin's promoted custom animations, but that shouldn't take long, assuming no one acts up. That being said, I'm looking forward to your comments!

EDIT: Forgot to say. Swordsalmon made a beast portrait for Howard. Nayr touched up the design and made it even better IMO. Nayr also fixed up Anonym's really old portrait of Shon, which is why Shon looks a bit more polished now. =D

Updated Prologue

2010-06-10T14:27:00.003-04:00

Details:

The battle theme for Byron, Ascent, which was already shown in an earlier video, isn't to stay. I did edit and reinsert it though so it's slightly better but you probably won't be able to tell the difference. There was an instrument that was originally muted there that I un-muted that has made it better, but you probably won't get to that part of the song anyway. And there's the new map theme, which is from Tales of Symphonia. It's the field theme for Sylvarant, if I remember correctly.

I also updated the text because the old script formatting was pretty nasty. It was REALLY easy to miss text by pressing "A" (or whatever emulator button equivalent) and skipping through. That has been fixed for the most part. That's just about it, nothing real interesting here...

Video

One Piece Cameo in Fire Emblem

2010-06-09T02:53:00.000-04:00

Sorry for posting this kind of late... I've been busy with a lot of stuff... *sigh*...

You can also watch gameplay of chapter 17x--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iooZyDoU8k.

Yes, chapter 17x is mostly done. Mostly.

Chapter 17 Done - And I Got "Merlinus" Working

2010-06-08T20:07:00.002-04:00

I figured out how to properly add "Merlinus"--or rather, his replacement, Liuke, the suspicious merchant, to chapter 17. He has been added, but my latest youtube videos don't show that.

http://www.youtube.com/FireShrine/

I've uploaded four videos, I believe, of chapter 17, so please do enjoy. I'll get up screenshots when I can, if I can. Once I stop having to deal with all these annoying bugs and 1-hour fixes (things that take 1 hour or more to fix), progress will pick up even more, because SCHOOL IS OUT! YEAH!

~ Blazer

RNG is On Your Side!

2010-06-07T21:58:00.003-04:00

Tactics Universe has a special hack to hack RNG to be on YOUR side!

OK, not really, but this video was random and shows a couple seconds of chapter 17 and its progress. And it's a cool fight scene (albeit short).

By the way, chapter 17 is done, but I don't think anyone really wants to see it, do you? All that happens is that you have to rush to save Siegfried before he gets executed and fight an epic battle in a slightly remodeled but cool version of Castle Caelin.

(P.S. all other castles will look different from FE6/FE7--my excuse being that they all get destroyed and rebuilt to look totally different during the 370+ year time span between the games)

1,000+ Hits - Anakin's Promotion

2010-06-05T20:10:00.002-04:00

Thanks to everyone who visits, those who vote, and especially those who comment, because the blog now has over 1,000 hits, which I think is cool. Although I hadn't planned it this way, I've very recently finished spriting Anakin's promotion, Noble. Yes, he gets a custom sprite, rejoice!

Unlike a bishop, Anakin's promoted class, the Noble, does not have religious robes or anything. The staff is held a bit differently and there isn't a staff for light magic. Just his hands. His critical is a bit unique too. I'm not sure whether Anakin should have the "Zzz..." there in his critical so you're free to influence my decision by commenting and telling me whether you think he should have it or not.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the chapter 16 update and now this. Stick around for more! ^_^

Chapter 16 Complete - Screenshots & Videos

2010-06-05T11:55:00.005-04:00

Chapter 16 has been done for a while but people like Kai Shiden and Nayr have been making last-minute updates to portraits. Similarly I was busy with tests, school, sports, etc., but I finally got some videos up. I'll be uploading screenshots soon and update this post with them. For now, check out my/the Fire Emblem Shrine's youtube channel to see chapter 16 of Tactics Universe "in action"!

http://www.feshrine.net/youtube/ or http://www.youtube.com/FireShrine

Screenshots:

New Boss Battle Music & Weapon Icons

2010-06-04T20:33:00.004-04:00

Introducing your new boss battle music (sort of:)

Softly with Grace (FE7) (Remix):

Ascent (FE10) (Shortened):

If you notice any new weapon icons in any recent or upcoming videos, thank Glenn (the spriter), Mewtwo (the FEU member who likes to change his name a lot, like many other people) and I (Blazer) for them.

Blazer - Various edits to many (10+) icons, Valumin, Quake, Hero's Flare.
LG - Mythril Sword, Adamant Lance, Killer Bow, Spin Lance, Iron Axe, Steel Axe, Others I Can't Remember (the better/really custom weapon icons are his).
Mewtwo/Whatever he goes by- Onigiri, Fimbulvetr Edit, Thunder Edit, possibly some others i can't remember.

I'll give "proper credit" later, I'm a bit too tired to make a list for this kinda thing. Just know who helped. XD

Chapter 16 Battle Preps, Filter Test, & Misc

2010-06-01T23:26:00.002-04:00

You get to see me run through the battle preps (it takes a while), look through the enemies, the boss, Ben (your new wyvern rider who appears to just be another mercenary recruit, but actually isn't), and then you get to see a little fighting before Althares gets thunderbolted (he dies so easily because he died in Siegfried's mode and started at level 1 in Kelik's mode T_T).

Do comment (either here or on youtube) and enjoy!

Nayr Fullbody & Chapter 16 Update

2010-05-31T16:20:00.004-04:00

If you're wondering why Nayr gets a fullbody and Anakin still doesn't have one, it's because Nayr made his own character's fullbody. Plus Nayr does a lot of spriting for the hack and his character is a broken one that serves as an adviser to the group at times (eventually that role will be taken out as Siegfried and Shon will come back though).

Although like the other 40 playable characters he is a minor character, Nayr is actually very deep. Aside from being chivalrous and the White Knight of Bern for his righteous deeds as a mercenary, he once served in a guild. One of the upcoming bosses is a former guildmate of Nayr's, in fact. His ending is going to be great too, but I won't spoil any other details, I've done enough. XP

He's a little bit shorter than the others, but don't let that distract you from it's awesomeness. =D

By the way, chapter 16 is done except for a couple boss battle themes and the main enemy units. I even finished the ending scene, which took hours. Chapter 17 will be a bit shorter but still long. It'll get finished quicker than chapter 16, anyhow.

Last thing--Exxucus finished the chapter 26 map (the biggest map in the game, the Etrurian Palace battle that you know is coming). It's absolutely awesome and you'll get to see a glimpse of it after chapter 19 so look forward to that. XD

In the Name of Bern

2010-05-30T12:22:00.002-04:00

An epic song! Yeah! :D

You might think "what does this have to do with Tactics Universe"--well, what if there is a boss from Bern in Tactics Universe? That's totally plausible right?

~~The bad thing is I have an overload of boss theme music because there are so many good songs I want to implement...~~

See ya around, guys and girls.

Chapter 16 To Do List

2010-05-30T03:49:00.006-04:00

My To Do List before chapter 16 is finished. Chapter 16 is a huge load of work and I knew it would be.

~~- Replay Chapter 15 so that I get Kevin back (apparently he died in one of my saves)~~
~~- Insert custom enemy map music~~
- Insert boss battle theme songs
~~- Add all units~~
~~- Add Merlinus~~ He won't show up until next chapter
~~- Insert Slayer custom animation~~
~~- Do the really long ending scene~~(this took hours upon hours)
~~- Do snag-breaking tile map change~~
- Test chapter and final fixes

So far I've spent about 14 hours on this chapter in the past 2 weeks. If you're curious as to why I have so much time, it's because I haven't slept. That being said my teachers bombarded me with homework over "Memorial Weekend" (not that I'll have time to mourn anyone but myself) so chapter 16 probably won't be done until my school is done. D:

The good news is, chapter 16 is going to be so epic when it's done it'll blow your mind that you'll make new youtube accounts just so you can subscribe to me (LOL jk) and check the blog every couple days. ~~I hope.~~

Promoted Battle Palettes

2010-05-30T00:15:00.003-04:00

I think it's obvious that characters will have to promote in this hack. Actually, in Anakin's mode, there aren't any promoted characters yet. The first ones you can get are in chapter 16--you can promote one mage using a hidden guiding ring (see the official site for info on hidden items) or if you promoted Inanna in Siegfried's story, you should have a Falco Knight joining you on turn 5.

That being said I've been working on the promoted palettes ahead of time so I won't have to beat myself up over them later on, i.e. when more promotion items come in and I have to worry about legitimately promoting units. Here's one of them I've done, Nayr, that I feel like showing, because I like to show my work.

Alternatively check out the video on youtube which just shows it in action (really not a big deal but I was bored...). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgw3uiBhKd8

Special Conversations & Progress Update

2010-05-28T21:36:00.002-04:00

Tactics Universe has a bunch of special conversations that many people don't know about. Well, I'd like to clear some of those up--at least for the 2nd part of the game, because to be honest I don't remember all the conversations in the first part of the game.

In this video you'll see a secret way of getting a member card (if you bought one in the previous chapter, you got CHUMPED) and another conversation with Kelik and Tekun. I feel that conversations in a game shouldn't be edited just so that the viewers can completely follow along. That being said, you'll understand the tidbit about the necklace later in the game, as well as the vengeance part (if Tekun and Kelik support), and things will make more sense.

For a list of ones in Part 2 check the page on the official site.

---------------------------

As for what I'm doing now, I've been working very hard on making the weapons in the game a lot more interesting with variety and such. I encountered a problem with custom spell animations and have contacted Xeld about fixing the problem (it's with FEditor Adv, not me). I wanted to get chapter 16 done today but I don't think that'll happen. It might happen by next weekend but then again I have tests so I can't say anything.

As of last week I have been busier than usual (I was busy enough as it is) and this business will continue until July. I have to finish Team Justice's secret hack too so TU won't be getting very far for a while. The good news is that this will give Exxucus time to sprite maps ahead of time. :)

Siegfred & Kelik "Official Art" (Courtesy of NicktMayCry)

2010-05-24T18:37:00.003-04:00

I don't have a professional artist here so I can't give you high quality professional art but a voluntary spriter kind enough to make a fullbody can give you something like official art. This spriter has a name. He currently goes by NicktMayCry. All credit goes to him EXCEPT for Siegfried's head, which was sprited by Nayr, Tactics Universe' head spriter.

TBH I just named Nayr my head spriter right now only because he's been helping the longest and the most. But there are plenty of other spriters.

Alright, on to the Siegfried and Kelik fullbodies!

Chapter 16: Fragmented Heart Opening Scene

2010-05-23T18:16:00.003-04:00

Finally, a video of new progress. Watch it and comment here or on youtube please!

As you can see, the beginning scene itself is about 3 minutes. Then there is about 1 minute of scenes during the battle, maybe another minute when Liuke (your merchant) joins, a good minute or two after beating the boss (Roarik), two minutes when you join up with Shon, two minutes in a scene inside the castle, three minutes after that. That's 13-14 minutes of watching cutscenes... and I'm supposed to make all this. *collapses*

The awesome Roman portrait is courtesy of NicktMayCry. The reason why he is acting oddly in accordance with his appearance will be explained later--no, he's not actually a comedic character who just looks like a war-scarred toughy. Captain Drake sent him and Ben for a special reason that you'll find out soon enough.

Levion won't join for a while, so you're still stuck without any prepromotes, and the role of Jeigan seems to be empty. Those other 3 will surely join you though.

But where is Siegfried? Have they executed him yet? What can Hortensia, the fortune teller, tell us about the upcoming events? Will our heroes make it in time to rescue Siegfried?!

Find out next time, on Dragon Ball Z! I mean Tactics Universe!

Portrait Update & Anakin x Kelik Support

2010-05-22T23:31:00.002-04:00

Some actual non-text updates for you! w00t! The following are portraits in the existing part of the game that have been updated. All the other portraits won't be revealed until later. The thanks for these portraits really goes to the following spriters: Nayr, Kai Shiden, NicktMayCry, and Uphir. This applies to pretty much all of the portrait revamping that is going on behind the scenes.

Here's a video--but it doesn't really show anything different. The following is a video recording of Anakin and Kelik's C Support Convo. Eventually I'll do the other 2 and any other supports that come up. XP

I hope you enjoyed this update. Tell all your friends and have people visit the blog--it's much easier than updating forums. And make comments too--you don't have to register to comment...

The Gold Halberdier

2010-05-22T22:08:00.002-04:00

How many of you know of the Gold Halberdier? I don't think many of you do, to be honest. He's only appeared once in the game so far--you get to fight against him when the Caerleon Riders assault you in chapter 5x. But many people don't know about chapter 5x, I'd think. I'm sure if you check the official site, you could find out how to get there...

Cid is an Etrurian commander known as the Gold Halberdier because he wears gold armor. His son is Rex: these two are similar to the pair Jill and her father (I can't remember the name). Rex will be a recruitable soldier at some point who will fight against what he finds to be wrong, even though he hesitates because he was born an Etrurian and lived there for so long. Rex does not understand why people from other nations are seen as inferior, but because of his surroundings he has a hard time taking action, until the protagonists persuade him with their words.

The original character design is by LordGulcasa, I believe, but this new portrait that is part of a movement to revamp the portraits (and make them super awesome so that the game is more enjoyable) is made by Nayr, one of my favorite spriters and friends. ^_^

Slayer Class & More on the Creation of the Blog

2010-05-21T20:12:00.004-04:00

The Slayer is a hero with a different sword, no spikes on the shoulderplates, make-shift design for half of his body where the shield once was (*cough*, the shield is gone), and has different movements. Also the armor comes down lower than the simple chest plate that the original hero has.

I hope you liked the video. Now, here's a new piece of information that some people didn't know. The Slayer class is for a character that you probably already know, assuming you've played Fire Emblem 7. It is reserved for Renault. Yes, Renault. You will find more about the plot significance of this later--if I got into it any more it'd spoil the plot (and no, it's not just "Renault when he was a mercenary" or something like that).

------------

As for the blog, I'm not even sure of how it'll work out. It's very possible that I'll scrap it within a week or so. I want to see how it works out. I think updating a blog is easier, looks better/more organized/more professional, and I think it'll help keep all the different places TU is posted together. The site is more of a database while the blog is an update part. Plus on the Fire Emblem Shrine when there is a huge TU update (new patch or some other significant event) I can link to the blog as well. But if it ends up to be a hassle or just another place that I have to update, as I said, I'll scrap it.